


Professor

by mrstaemin (TheTroninator)



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: College AU, M/M, in which gavin is a professor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-06 04:50:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1102615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTroninator/pseuds/mrstaemin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Michael decides to go back to school. One of his professors is a little quirky, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The First Day

Michael would be lying to say he was excited to go to school. He never thought college would be part of his life plan, but after being fired from another dead end job, he figured getting a degree might turn some things around. He had to admit, he was nervous at the idea. He’d be several years older than most of the students on campus, but he was determined not to let that deter him. Besides, he was a young looking guy, he could maybe convince people he was nineteen or twenty, and that wouldn’t be so bad.

His mother and father told him how proud they were and how they expected great things to come out of this and how they always had wanted him to go to college and get a degree and maybe he could even get a master’s better late than never. Michael was a little put out by all the encouragement, but nevertheless thanked his parents for their support and registered for classes at the local college.

Of all the classes he planned to take, his cinematography class seemed like it might be the most interesting. He thought that he might get a degree in film if he liked this class and if not, it still would be useful for his unremarkable youtube channel. 

He slogged through his other classes on the first day, getting his syllabi and taking notes over things like how to reach his professor if something went wrong on the website they were all using now to post assignments and grades. The older professors seemed baffled by it, but the younger ones embraced it. 

When he sat down in the small lecture hall for his cinematography class, he had high hopes for a dashing professor with a blazer complete with elbow patches and maybe even a bow tie. He guessed the guy would be artsy and clever, witty and philosophical. He was teaching a class in the film department, after all. 

The class filled up with a few more students and then two o’clock struck on the clock and no professor was to be seen, just one more late student in a goofy t-shirt and cargo shorts, with messy hair and scruffy stubble entered the room. 

“Good thing the professor’s not here yet, huh?” Michael whispered to the kid, who gave him a confused look as he trotted past him on his way to the front of the room.

He stood behind the lectern and cleared his throat. “Hello, class,” he greeted, in a very distinct British accent. “I’m your professor, Mr. Free.”

Michael chuckled. Surely this kid was just being funny. 

“What?” the kid asked, sounding hurt. “I’m your teacher.”

“Really?” Michael choked, his laughter finally calming down.

“Yes! I’m sorry I’m late, as well. The shoot ran over today and I only managed to get here a moment ago. I’ve not prepared any lecture notes, as such.” The guy seemed really flustered. “I suppose I’ll give you the link to the syllabus online and call it a day, huh?” He turned around and dragged a wheeled chalkboard to him and scrawled in very messy handwriting a url on the board. 

“Are you going to take attendance?” Michael asked, since all his other professors had. 

“Nah,” Mr. Free answered. “I’ll not bother today.” 

Michael was upset for some reason. It bothered him somewhat that his professor looked younger than himself and it bothered him how ill prepared he seemed for class as well. 

“Okay. You are free to go,” he told them, wiping his chalky hands off on his pants.

Michael walked up to him as the other students filed out of the back of the room. “Are you sure you’re the professor?” he asked of the young kid standing in front of him.

“You don’t have to call me professor if you don’t want to,” he told him, leaning on his podium easily. “You can just call me Gavin.”

“Your first name?”

“No, that’s my cat’s name. Of course it’s my first name, you dummy!” Mr. Free grinned a cheeky grin at Michael.

“So you’re not a doctor?” Michael asked. This guy just didn’t seem right. All his other professors had PhDs and were at least in their thirties. This guy looked like he was twenty four, tops.

“I’m not sure that you know who I am,” Mr. Free told him, a stern tone suddenly entering his voice. “I’m Gavin Free and I’m a professional cinematographer. I have worked on many Hollywood films. I also run a youtube channel with a friend of mine who is also in this field. No, I do not have a doctorate. I don’t even have a master’s. But I promise you that I am more qualified than anyone else to teach at this level as almost nine years of field experience are on my résumé.”

“How old are you?” Michael continued, interrogating further, despite Gavin’s apparent anger. 

“I’m twenty five,” he answered, a cold voice. 

“Damn,” Michael swore under his breath. “I, uh, guess I look forward to having class with you then, huh?” 

Gavin raised an eyebrow at the boy. “I’m sure.” 

Michael nodded uneasily as he backed out of the classroom. As he reflected on the conversation, he was pretty sure he just offended his professor. He honestly would not be looking forward to the rest of the semester at this rate.

That night he went over to Ray’s to complain and play Xbox. Ray was not so surprisingly unsympathetic. 

“You were kind of rude to the dude,” Ray informed him as he killed him for the hundredth time in Call of Duty. 

Michael flopped backwards into the sofa and groaned. “Yeah, well, he was really unprepared for class and he’s younger than I am.”

“How’s it his fault that he’s done more in life than you have?”

“Shut the hell up, Ray,” Michael hissed, knowing that that was probably the base of his frustration about his new professor. “I just don’t like the guy; something isn’t right about him.”


	2. Ego

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael begins to realize what is wrong with his professor.

“Can you believe it, B?” the scraggly professor griped as he set up his camera in his friend Geoff’s back yard.

“Well, B, you were dressed like a high schooler today,” his fellow Brit pointed out.

“I’ve just never been talked to like that, B. When someone signs up for my class it’s because they’ve heard of me before and they want to meet me.”

“Well, maybe this guy was actually interested in cinematography and not just getting into your professor pants.”

Gavin blew some air out of his large nose. “Yeah, right, Dan.”  
__________________________________________________________________________  
The next day, Michael decided to check out the url that Mr. Free had left on the chalkboard since he didn’t have his class that day. The url led him to a website called Gavin Free Cinematography. Michael rolled his eyes and looked for the button on the banner that would lead him to the syllabus. 

There was a link that was titled, “My college classes.”

That page had a short description of the university where he taught and of the class that he instructed. Michael scrolled down to the section called “resources” and clicked the link to the syllabus.

Michael saw that on the syllabus, Mr. Free had left his phone number and email address for if his students had questions. Glancing around the library in which he sat, he pulled out his phone to punch in the contact information, not that he actually expected to need it. 

As he looked at the rest of the syllabus, he finally noticed that they’d be spending the entire second half of the semester talking about slow motion cinematography. It seemed rather disproportionate, Michael thought. He finished looking at the syllabus and how everything would be graded and he worried for the first time that he might not make a good grade in this class, especially since he knew nothing about slow motion.

The next day when Michael entered Mr. Free’s classroom, he saw the once scruffy and juvenile-looking professor clean shaven with combed hair and a suit. Michael wanted to laugh as he remembered what he was dressed like when they first met. He’s trying to impress me, Michael thought vainly. 

“Hello. Michael, is it?” the professor greeted as the student took his seat, not looking up from the class roster. 

“Hey, Mr. Free,” Michael replied easily, trying to suppress his chuckles. “That’s a very nice suit you have.”

Mr. Free seemed to wince as he glared at his roster. He looked up with a forced smile. “Thank you, Michael.”

As more students filed in, Mr. Free began to shuffle some papers around and he pulled down a projector screen. He actually seemed prepared to teach today and Michael was pretty impressed. 

He looked up at the clock. “Okay, two o’clock,” he said in that British accent. “Let’s get started.”

He walked to the back of the class and shut the door.

“Since I didn’t have the syllabus printed out last time we met, I didn’t get the chance to really go over it. I trust that all of you looked at it, though.”

Some kids nodded truthfully and others obviously lied. Usually kids never look at the syllabus and it comes to bite them on the butt later. Mr. Free didn’t seem interested in holding this class’s hand and walking them through everything step by step, though. 

Michael sat back with his arms crossed over his chest as Mr. Free opened up a Powerpoint on his laptop entitled “A Brief Introduction.” As Michael guessed it would probably be some arrogant Powerpoint introducing Mr. Free to the class as a film-making hot shot, he was quite surprised to find that it was quite literally an introduction to cinematography and film. Michael fumbled around in his back pack and pulled out his textbook, trying desperately to keep up with the frantic lecturing of the British cinematographer.

After class the collective inhalation of the entire room catching their breath could be heard over the whirring of the projector. Michael placed his now highlighted textbook back into his book bag. As other students filed out offer room, Michael lingered a moment.

“Is something the matter?” Mr. Free asked, straightening up the lectern.

Michael slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Well, I was just wondering why we’re spending half of the semester on slow-motion?”

Mr. Free pinched the bridge of his nose. “Usually by this point, students who don’t know about my youtube channel would have checked it out. I even left the link to it at the bottom of the syllabus.” He looked up and gave a disgruntled grimace to his freckle faced, twenty six year old student, drawing his lower lip over his top lip. 

Michael felt the urge to punch the guy’s face but for obvious reasons refrained. “Look, I didn’t take this class as a crash course to becoming Gavin Free’s number one fan. It was just a question, anyways. Gosh.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his baggy jeans. “Sorry for the trouble. I’ll go watch all your youtube videos right now.”

“Listen, Michael,” Mr. Free called as his student began walking away from him. 

Michael paused for a moment.

“In high school, teachers can’t grade you based on how well they like you. Well, in case you don’t know, college isn’t the same.”

“Are you threatening me?” Michael spat, not looking at his teacher.

“No. I’m just warning you. T’is only the beginning of the semester and I wouldn’t want you to ruin the whole bloody thing.” He breezed past Michael, his briefcase in his hand. 

Michael watched the fleeting form of his professor and felt himself boiling. College life sucked.  
_______________________________________________________________________________  
“He doesn’t have a clue how big of a deal we are!” Gavin complained clicking away at his laptop, editing a video for his channel. 

“Well, it’s not like youtube is the silver screen, B,” Dan consoled him, relaxing into the couch in their friend Geoff’s house. 

“Hey, Mr. Big Deal,” a tattooed man called from the kitchen with a bottle of liquor in his hand. “When are you and your giant head going to get your own damn apartment?”

Gavin rolled his eyes. “You love me and you know it, Geoffrey.” 

“I’d love you even more if you got your own place,” Geoff teased, shoving Gavin’s feet off of his coffee table.

“I’m working on it.”

“Dan, you can stay as long as you want,” Geoff continued.

“You’re only saying that because you know I have to go back to England in a week,” Dan moaned. 

Geoff chuckled, ruffling the hair of the two British kids.  
______________________________________________________________________________  
Michael groaned as Ray commandeered his television and his Xbox controllers. 

“What’s your problem?” Ray asked as he began playing a first person shooter game.

“I’m about to watch this youtube video.”

Ray looked back to his friend. “And?” 

“It’s my professor.”

“Oh, Mr. Free?” Ray asked, putting the controller down.

“Yeah. You know he wore a f-ing suit today? Could he be any more f-ing obvious?

“Um could you, please?”

“He’s trying so hard to impress me,” Michael replied. 

“He’s the one grading you, though,” Ray pointed out.

Michael rolled his eyes. “He’s all upset because I don’t know every factoid about him.” 

Ray pulled out his phone. A moment later he showed Michael the screen. “He has his own IMdB page.”

Michael blew air from his lips as he clicked a video to watch. “Come watch this with me. ‘Slow Mo Guys.’ That’s creative.”

Ray settled beside him on the couch in Michael’s apartment. “He’s got a hell of a lot more subs than you.”

“Shut the hell up, Ray. Just watch it.”

Mr. Free explained some of the science behind the video and then proceeded to pull a dumb stunt with his lovely assistant in a lab coat, “Dan.” They filmed it and played it back in slow motion from several different angles and then gave a cheeky sign off asking for a subscription to their youtube channel.

Michael shrugged as though he were unimpressed. In truth, it was pretty cool, but he wouldn’t let on. He wanted to go on with his rivalry with Mr. Free. 

“That Dan guy was pretty hot.” Ray pointed out after the video ended. 

“What?!”

“I’m just sayin. Gav was alright too.” 

Michael scoffed. “You’d change your mind if you ever met the guy. Anyway, let’s play some Xbox.”

After Ray left Michael’s apartment that night, Michael decided to watch another SMG video—to see if he could learn anything about Slow Motion for class of course. One video turned into another turned into twenty. He realized that it was getting late, but he thought, “I’ll just watch one more.”

The Gavin online was not Mr. Free. He wasn’t a strict professor or an arrogant prideful narcissist. He was a goof. A prankster. A drunk. A fun guy and a dork. And Michael wished that guy would teach his class instead of the guy with the delicate ego.


	3. A Real Professor?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael may or may not have developed some sort of something for his professor and that professor may or may not have noticed.

Michael settled into his seat in the classroom. He’d been in Mr. Free’s class for a few weeks. Michael hated to admit it--and he sure as heck wouldn’t admit it--but since he started watching his teacher’s youtube channel, he felt some sort of flustered feeling whenever he was around him. He couldn’t really describe it, but he felt the need to be more careful with his words around him than he originally did. Even with Mr. Free being younger than Michael, he didn’t want him to think poorly of him. 

Michael would say little in class. He would only look between his text book, his note book, and Mr. Free’s face. Sometimes Michael’s eyes would drop to Mr. Free’s slender body and he would think about how skinny he was in his dress pants and collared shirts, chuckling internally.

Michael started to dress nicer on the days he had Mr. Free’s class. He rationalized it by saying that if Mr. Free was going to try to outdress him, then he would counter that by dressing better too. That’s all it was. He didn’t want to impress him, no. He just thought he would keep Mr. Free’s ego in check. 

Michael kept his mouth shut then, only occasionally offering particularly well-filtered and witty comments at which Mr. Free would laugh. Michael hoped that building a polite yet friendly rapport with him would result in getting a better grade in the class after Mr. Free’s cryptic warning. Plus, Michael enjoyed any opportunity to make anyone else laugh, especially when that laugh was as endearing as Mr. Free’s.  
\---------------------------------------------------  
“I’m telling you, B,” Gavin continued, grabbing a beer from Geoff’s fridge and easing himself onto his couch. “Michael is randy for me.” 

Dan chuckled through Gavin’s Xbox live headset. “I think you’re just bein’ vain, B.” 

“No!” Gavin protested. “He just stares at me like I’m the Greek God o’ sex.”

“Well, maybe you’ve left your fly down?” Dan suggests.

“Every damn day?” Gavin laughed, hitting the A button to start up a match online with Dan. 

“Well, you can be scatterbrained at times, B.”

“Bollocks. He likes me.”  
\-------------------------------------------------  
The next time Mr. Free held class, Michael arrived just as Mr. Free was making to close the door, as he did every class period. He just barely got his foot into the door, receiving a crooked smile and a mischievous tilt of the eyebrow from his professor. 

“Take your seat,” Mr. Free commanded in a hushed tone. “I’d also like to see you after class, if you don’t mind.”

Michael felt his face turn red. He had made a huge mistake. He was late to class and now he would be chewed out by Mr. Free. He didn’t want to argue with him or be contrary to him at this fragile point in the semester—midterms were approaching fast.

Michael took his seat without a word, ruminating on how he had become so docile in this class when his personality was previously so fiery. Did he really fear a twenty-five year old with a bachelor’s degree that much? He supposed the answer was yes. His stomach twisted for the entire class and when Mr. Free finally looked to the clock and dismissed the class, Michael felt like he could throw up. 

Michael didn’t move from his spot in the room until Mr. Free made a ‘come hither hand gesture’ to Michael from his lectern. 

Michael hung his head slightly as he walked forward. 

“Michael, you don’t need to look so down in the mouth,” Mr. Free told him immediately, placing a hand on his arm.

“Why do you have to talk to me?” Michael asked defensively, feeling his short temper making a comeback. “I’ve been nothing but courteous ever since that first week of class!”

“I know,” Mr. Free said in a soft tone. “You know, when you first showed up, interrogating me about my age and qualification to teach this class, I thought you’d be a bitcher and a moaner. I thought I should give you something to really moan about.”

Michael felt his face turn red. It seemed like a pick up line. Was it a pick up line? He thought he should say something nonchalant, play it off. “Professor, I think if I had been a moaner, things could have been at least somewhat interesting,” Michael replied. He suddenly regretted opening his mouth.

Gavin chuckled, raising a taunting eyebrow, but recovered quickly. “Keep up the good work, Michael. You’re on your way to a lovely little grade.”

Michael nodded, turning around quickly, muttering curses under his breath as he grabbed his backpack and left the classroom.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Gavin paced around Geoff’s living room, his cell phone in hand, speaker phone on. “I’m telling you, B, he fell right into my trap today!” Gavin laughed into the phone.

“You mentioned moaning,” Dan pointed out. “It’s not really a fair move.”

Geoff rolled his eyes, overhearing the conversation from his kitchen. “Why are you so obsessed with this kid anyway?” he accused.

“I’m not bloody obsessed! I’m proving a point!” Gavin refuted.

“What point is that, B?” Dan inquired.

“That all my students either take my class because they like me or they like me by the end.”

“None of your students signed up just for the love of cinematography?” Geoff wondered.

Gavin shrugged. “Michael may have indeed began the class under the pretense of learning how to create wonderful shots with cameras, but I assure you, he’s not acing his tests for the sake of his GPA.” 

“Are you even a real professor?” Geoff teased. 

Gavin simply giggled in response.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“Ray, I’m telling you, Mr. Free is obsessed with me,” Michael pseudo-complained as they ate a couple slices of pizza.

“Oh, yeah?” Ray asked skeptically.

Michael talked through the food in his mouth. “Yes. He asked me to talk to him after class just so he could tell me I’m doing a good job in his class. Like, what the hell, right?”

“I mean, maybe he’s just a nice guy?”

“No, this guy’s an asshole,” Michael said quickly. “He’s a total tease, too.”

“Maybe the kind of guy to sleep around?” Ray asked. 

Michael shrugged. “Who’s to know? I can’t imagine anyone wanting to have sex with the guy. His nose looks like it belongs on an Easter Island head.” 

Ray lost himself in laughter for a while. As Ray guffawed on, Michael churned that last thought over in his mind before finally shaking it off and shoving it down, hoping it wouldn’t resurface again.


	4. A+

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael pays a visit to Mr. Free's office.

Midterms ended and Michael could not have been more relieved. Mr. Free’s class had been challenging enough with all of the facts to memorize and all the methods of filming to explain, but he also had his other classes to worry about.

Mr. Free seemed to be much more excited himself, since finally they were onto the slow motion portion of the class. The first day of his slow motion lectures, he simply gushed about the films he got to work on. Surprisingly enough, Michael wasn’t irritated by that. It was likely because he didn’t really seem to be bragging. More than anything, Mr. Free seemed grateful for those opportunities if not a little star-struck by the actors he got to share rooms with. He seemed far away, the look in his eyes that of a small child make-believing, removed from the stuffy position of a professor. At this point, Michael actually felt himself swooning. Finally, after months of Mr. Free behaving as a slightly conceited and somewhat strict professor, he began behaving more like Gav, the Slow Mo Guy. 

“Class, I know, it must bore you to hear me tell stories of what it’s like on set,” he apologized after many celebrity-filled tales. 

“The name dropping is actually the problem,” Michael joked. 

Gavin simply smiled and shook his head. “It’s just been a dream come true, these past years. Students, I know that I’ve been taught a great deal myself about filmin’ and stuff, but a lot of my success didn’t come from my skills or knowledge. I just got lucky a lot.”

Michael’s eyes softened as he looked at his instructor. He really wasn’t so arrogant, Michael thought. To his students, he seemed a hero for sure, because a dorky kid managed to break into show business at a young and have online success. To Mr. Free though, he still acted like he viewed himself as an example of what dumb luck can get you, less talented than fortunate. Michael wondered why he had behaved so proudly at the beginning of the semester. Perhaps talking about slow motion managed to unlock his sense of humility for some reason? 

“Speaking of luck, I have your midterms graded up,” Mr. Free said quickly, changing the subject. “I have the test itself in my office, but here are your answer sheets.”

Mr. Free rummaged in his briefcase for a minute before pulling out the stack of papers. “If you want to check the test, you can come by my office later.” Mr. Free passed the papers out to the class, delivering Michael’s last.

Michael looked at his grade and sighed. He only got a B. 

After class, Michael walked down the hallway to Mr. Free’s office, ebeing the only student to check the test.   
He had never been to Mr. Free’s office before. He glanced around the room and saw how bare the bookshelves looked. The office had papers scattered about it, a couple of cameras in various places, and a computer. On the wall hung an English flag and a Halo poster. Michael smiled, another aspect of his professor’s life revealed. He gamed. That was a definite bonus to his personality. 

Mr. Free walked in after a moment and gave him a copy of the test. “It’s nice that you actually care enough to check what you got wrong,” he said vaguely, sitting down at his desk fairly quietly. He flipped open his laptop computer and began typing as though he were working.

He had closed the door behind him for some reason when he entered the office. Michael felt his face turning red with anxiety. Being alone with Mr. Free in this small room made Michael feel…nervous and even claustrophobic. He wouldn’t be obvious, though.

Mr. Free worked at his laptop silently while Michael checked his answers. He felt like he should say something, the silence was killing him. “Um, Mr. Free?”

He didn’t even look up from his screen. “Hm?”

“Could you explain number seventeen, please?” Michael asked.

Mr. Free sighed, picking up a copy of the test for himself. “Yeah, in the example given, that shot broke the fourth wall, see?” he said monotonously.

Michael already knew why he had gotten that question wrong, but he just wanted some conversation. “Oh, I get it,” he answered, lowering the test from in front of his face. More silence. “Mr. Free?”

Finally the professor looked up. “Michael, your face is red. Is it hot in here or something?” 

Michael felt his mouth going dry. “Yes, it is,” he said absent-mindedly. He cursed mentally. He felt so frustrated. Being alone like this in his office seemed like the perfect opportunity for something to happen. Michael didn’t know what he wanted, though. He couldn’t place that feeling when suddenly, looking into his professor’s green eyes he realized that when he used to hate his professor, now he had a bit of a crush on him and his whole body was reacting. 

“Are you alright, Mr. Jones?” Mr. Free asked, a taunt hiding somewhere in his accented voice as he looked back down at his work. 

“Godammit, Gavin,” Michael cursed.

“Huh?” the professor muttered dumbly, looking back to Michael, who had dropped the test onto his desk. 

“Listen, Gavin, I just—why are you so f-ing different online and when you’re talking about slow motion?” Michael leaned onto his desk with his hands. 

“What?” Gavin seemed flabbergasted. 

Michael continued, not holding back. “Like seriously, you were such an asshole at the beginning of the semester, but online and now you seem fun and normal, like, what the f-?”

Gavin glanced away, looking embarrassed. “I-I guess I just—bloody--I don’t know, Michael. You were the one student who didn’t like me. And I feel like if not for the slow mo and the online character that I have, I’m really—dammit, I don’t know. Without that I’m not much. You see that. Now I’m talking about that thing I love and I feel like I am something and I don’t have to try so damn hard anymore to--”

Michael blinked a few times in shock. He had wanted to impress him and he just admitted it. “Professor, I—shit.” 

Gavin shook his head. “It’s okay, Michael. If you’re done looking at your test, you can just…”

“No, Gavin, I just.” Michael gritted his teeth. “Dammit, I wanted to impress you too. At first I thought you were a dick and I wanted to seem like I was—frick—I just wanted to seem like I wasn’t impressed to spite you. But f- me I watched your damn youtube videos and then that f-ing online sexy charm British accent shit got to me and…” Michael groaned in exasperation. He put his head in his hands, cussing under his breath. 

After a moment, Michael felt his hands being pulled away from his face. “Michael, are you saying you have a teacher-crush on me?”

“F-ing…”

“I though so.” Gavin pulled Michael across his desk and planted a kiss on his mouth. 

Michael’s brain couldn’t work anymore as he felt himself about to stumble. Gavin released him just as he was about fall over the desk.

“Can this count as extra-credit?” Michael asked.

“You little smegging…” Gavin grinned as he slid across his messy desk, shoving papers onto the floor to sit on the edge. Michael leaned into him. “If you keep this up, Michael, you’re going to get an A.” 

Michael laughed as Gavin pulled him in for another kiss. 

At the end of the semester, Gavin kept his promise and Michael got an A+ in the class. Gavin got something out of the deal, too. Much to Geoff’s delight, Gavin got out of his house and into someone else’s apartment.


End file.
